


Single hyung looking for nanny assistance!

by Dragoncounsel121



Series: Lunar is the Superior Calendar! [2]
Category: 2PM (Band), GOT7
Genre: Adopted Children, Fatherhood, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:02:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22747522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragoncounsel121/pseuds/Dragoncounsel121
Summary: A wonderful opportunity for those looking to begin their career in child care! A fulfilling position to help employer care for a wonderful little boy with a rambunctious personality. Caretaker will be provided room and board. Transport negotiated separately. This is a great position for an energetic young adult with an eye for detail and a patient, loving personality!All applications accepted!Requirements- prior experience with humans- a good understanding of karmic balance, best if intuitive, but you can use a spirit compass- no pollen allergyRecommended- basic knowledge of talisman dispelling- 1 year+ experience in child care- can cook basic nutritious meals- knows lots of children's songs and lullabiesCaregiver will be paid a salary once a moon cycle depending on contribution to ambient Fengshui up to 7 gold bars. If this is unacceptable, the employer is also willing to give equivalent payment in alchemy ingredients or moderately rare magical treasures.
Relationships: Nichkhun/babymadness
Series: Lunar is the Superior Calendar! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1635634
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20





	1. How Babies are Made

**Author's Note:**

> In retrospect, giving his disciple nephew a normal human upbringing was probably too much to hope for, but Nichkhun did his best...kind of.
> 
> Related to Before the Full Moon Rises (https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243491)

Nichkhun smiled as he unwrapped the swan’s down shawl. Sunmi’s work was always beautiful and the fabric was thick and luxuriously warm. Humans were fragile things. They were susceptible to being too hot _ and _ too cold, rain, wind, cuts and scrapes, there were so precious few things humans didn’t die from. Sometimes they even keeled over helpless from nothing at all. How much more delicate would a small one be? He had to be careful. 

No, only soft things for their Jinyoungie.

He put folded the shawl neatly and rifled through all the other tiny robes and wraps Sunmi had had woven, all made of good soft things like spider silk and otter fur, nothing too over-saturated with magical energies or resentment, all hand-gathered by his disciple brothers and sisters and approved by Nichkhun himself. 

A pulse of magic brushed against his senses and bundled all the clothes up, leaving only the large downy shawl. This he threw over his shoulders before fetching a basin of water, heating it with a quickly whispered incantation, and giving it legs so it could trail along behind him. 

To the human eye the fragrant peach tree blended well into the forest, unobtrusive but for a fading talisman on its trunk, but for Nichkhun’s wood sprite heritage, it was evident that its roots ran so much deeper, burrowing into the heart of the earth. The magic he’d woven around it shimmered softly like a dewy spider’s web. They swayed lazily, disturbed by the ever so slight heartbeat thumping from within the tree.

Nichkhun drew a breath. He’d been waiting for this day for over a decade.

Chanting beneath his breath, he nicked his thumb with one careful nail and unpicked the blanket of security spells motif by motif. Then placing his hands on the trunk, he softly coaxed the life from the branches and leaves draining it down towards the little bundle of life nestled in the roots. 

Beneath his hands, the tree slowly died. It’s leaves wilted into gold and then red and brown, falling off their branches in curtains. The bark dried gray and desiccated as moisture pulled away from the greenwood beneath it. Bit by bit even the nourishing sap trickled to a stop, and the tree stood lifeless.

“Sorry little one,” Nichkhun sighed, petting the crackling bark, “I would have let you stay if I could have.”

Breaking into the base of the trunk with a small hatchet, Nichkhun began to carefully rip out the dry rotted wood and loamy earth. He didn’t dare use tools lest he damaged the treasure inside. Once he’d dug close to the main root, the earth gave much more easily, until suddenly, a crust of it caved into something soft. His digging turned to brushing, wiping soil off soft pink skin until little by little a tiny baby with a wild tuft of ebony hair emerged from the earth. He was a little big for your average newborn, but that wasn’t his fault. His heartbeat had sounded so weak for a while that Nichkun had let him carry on for a few extra years in his earthly womb until his heartbeat thrummed healthy and strong through the tree bark. 

Without disturbing the umbilical cord, a mangled looking thing attached to a twisted gnarled root, Nichkhun slowly cleared the baby’s nose and mouth of as much dirt as he could. Then with one last whispered rune, he drained all the magic from the roots into the tiny baby, tying off and severing the cord as soon as the last drop of life dripped into the tiny form. The baby coughed around its first breath, spitting out the residual mud in his mouth, and began to cry. 

Nichkhun scooped the little thing into his arms, an old memory of his disciple sister reminding him to support the soft little head as best he could, bouncing the baby slightly in his arms until the little thing calmed and blinked his big dark eyes open. He looked so much like his mother. 

“Hello there, Jinyoungie, I’m your Nichkhun-hyung.” Nichkhun murmured softly.  _ Smile, babies like smiles _ . If he managed it, it wobbled off his lips when little Jinyoungie chirped softly back at him.

Before he dissolved into useless mush, Nichkhun wrapped the baby up in his sleeves and carefully crawled out of the tree cavity.

The basin of water had cooled to a temperate lukewarm and little Jinyoungie babbled as he was lowered into it, splashing about with his tiny fist. When Nichkhun finished bathing him, he dried the boy with the swan’s down. The soft water retardant feathers, wicking away the excess bathwater before it could sap the heat from the little baby body.

Sparing a second to strip off his outermost robes and throwing them across the peach branches - there were limits on cleaning spell, and Nichkhun wasn’t going to spend the power to do something so complicated for everyday wear - he tucked the little bundle against his chest and commanded the basin to dump itself out and follow him back to the cottage.

Settled against his new hyung, Jinyoungie turned his little face into Nichkhun’s lapels and was asleep by the time they got home.


	2. Milennials Kill Bottle Feeding!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The real first chapter
> 
> There are two things in life you cannot argue against, half of them is babies

Nichkhun closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see the spurt of tepid baby milk leave a wet streak across very fine, very  _ difficult to clean _ spider’s silk. Jinyoung’s little pink face was scrunched up, utterly unrepentant as he screamed his little lungs out twisting away from the tiny golden spoon in Nichkhun’s hand. 

Nearly to tears himself, the sorcerer dropped the spoon back into the little golden bowl and rocked the crying infant in his arms, trying to softly coax the child back to a sane decibel. Reaching inside himself, he tugged on his own magic stores to bleed into the baby, transferring energy directly to him and soothing his hunger pains. This was the  _ third day _ he’s had to resort to energy transfer as a method of feeding. 

They couldn’t keep doing this. Nichkhun was  _ not _ going to be responsible for his disciple sister’s baby becoming a  _ changeling _ . He could already feel her manifest in the living world just to strangle the immortality out of him.

And also it was hard enough to find mountain elk much less a female with twisted horns that had calved recently enough to still carry milk. It was much harder to tame it to the point, it would allow Nichkhun to milk it. Worse still was the frankly gross act of milking itself, the rubbery, sparsely hairy skin of the animal’s udder sent unpleasant tingle’s up Nichkhun’s entire arm just thinking about it act.

And now it was spat all across Jinyoung’s robes.

“I’m going to make you remember this when you grow up,” Nichkhun grumbled as he took off the three stained outer layers of tiny baby robes and replaced them with a simple smock of little dappled blue and green feathers from Heavenly messenger birds. Curse spider silk for being so thin and magically inert - even if that was the entire reason he’d sent Wooyoung on a seven-year journey to chase down a rare albino spider demon for her web. “I’ll tell your wife all about it. You're going to cry of embarrassment.”

In his arms, Jinyoung blew spit bubbles and made disgusting sucking noises by smacking his little lips. Nichkhun glowered down at him, trying to surreptitiously sneak the little empty spoon in again, but as soon as the metal touched the boy’s mouth, Jinyoung spat with all his little baby might and leveled Nichkhun with the most offended look the sorcerer had ever seen on any creature that small.

With a deep sigh that rattled into his bones, Nichkhun picked up a silk handkerchief to wipe the baby’s mouth. Between the folds of the handkerchief, Jinyoung’s little sucking mouth found the tip of his finger and latched on, his tiny lips forming a seal around the digit. As if some god has decided to take pity on him, Jinyoung immediately stopped fussing and happily suckled his finger like it was the tastiest thing the baby had eaten all day.

“That’s not for eating,” the sorcerer chided without heat. He’d lost the fight long ago after he realized that once little Jinyoung set his mind to it, the baby would not stop screaming unless his little gums were gnawing on something connected to his poor distraught hyung. It was better he chomped on Nichkhun’s clean fingers than his outer robes.

Ready to wind down, Nichkhun hummed idly as he sank into a cozy chair. One sharp command brought the little wash basin, now with a pair of arms to match it’s pair of legs, skittering to his feet. Another command directed the basin to pick up the discarded clothes and toss them in. A third had it fill itself with the large water barrel that Nichkhun had set up in the kitchen. A fourth sent it back to its place just off the stone ring of the fire pit to warm and soak. Spider silk especially needed  _ days _ . 

Nichkhun sighed idly starting another incantation, animating a broom to lazily stir up more dust than sweep it.

He’d been experimenting more and more with incantations lately. They were a little less rigid than written talismans, the sounds of runes are more subject to change than their shape, and required far finer intent and focus for much simpler spells. But there was an art to it, a music to the spoken word he’d only begun to appreciate and a new flexibility to his own personal control. You couldn’t stop and modify a spell instantaneously with a talisman after all, but a spoken incantation could be adjusted on the fly - carefully of course. Nothing would help an idiot who didn’t know his rune theories.

It was  _ not _ because it was one of the few magics that didn’t require the use of hands. 

...Although that was very helpful now that Nichkhun routinely found himself with his arms full of baby at any given moment.

Weren’t babies supposed to spend most of their day sleeping? So far Nichkhun had spent every waking moment rocking or feeding or soothing Jinyoung. There were so many goddesses for childbirth. How did they  _ all _ forget to teach his little disciple nephew something so important?

Eventually, the little brat's mouth went slack as he yawned around Nichkhun’s finger. With a few more little nibbles, he finally let the finger go and turned his face into the crook of Nichkhun’s arms.

Pulling up a couple of shawls and baby blankets, Nichkhun wrapped the baby well until there was really no contact between his arms and Jinyoung anymore. Slowly he tiptoed to the little boy’s rocker.

It was a thing of beauty, carved in its entirety out of a single hunk of milky white jade and carefully etched with tiny intricate spell motifs into the shapes of a nine-tailed fox baying at a crescent moon with clusters of what could be bushes, could be trees, clustered around its feet. Each array wove itself cleverly into the next humming with so much of its creator’s magic that the stone was flesh-warm to the touch. And yet, lined with inert spider silk pad and sheets, it was insulated inside, repelling any interference that would affect the inhabitant’s still-developing energies. Altogether, Chansung’s obsessively detailed work formed an impenetrable fortress of a rocker. A martial god could descend to earth and rip through the cottage, but inside the white jade cavity, Jinyoung would be safe.

Nichkhun lowered the baby bundle slowly into it, rocking the little jade bed gently as he eased Jinyoung’s tiny body off his arm. He stayed for a while, stroking the baby’s soft hair and patting his layers of blankets until Jinyoung seemed entirely asleep. Slowly, he stopped rocking the little jade basket, letting it come to a stop on its own. Quietly he inched away, bit by bit.

But, as every time before then, the moment that Nichkhun’s hands left his rocker, Jinyoung’s pinks little face scrunched up and he sniffled and huffed. Nichkhun had become intimately familiar with the first signs of his disciple nephew preparing to launch into another good long round of crying.

Beyond all known logic, Jinyoung seemed to just know when his hyung was putting him down. It was rarely a problem when - in an effort to save his tired arms - Nichkhun merely borrowed the rocker’s baby swaying capabilities. Jinyoung was perfectly happy with letting Nichkhun rock him with one foot while the sorcerer made his porridge or threw together a quick tonic, babbling nonsense whenever he felt like Nichkhun hadn’t looked up in a while. But the minute it was time for a nap, the rocker was utterly unacceptable and he’d scream if his hyung wasn’t touching the damn thing at all times.

Defeated, Nichkhun neatly scooped the baby back into the crook of his elbow and marched them both to his bed.

Even sleeping wasn’t peaceful with Jinyoung around. Nichkhun wasn’t the best sleeper, and having something so fragile cradled against him made sleep terrifying in a way rest should never be. He lingered, eyes wide-open long after little Jinyoung was breathing deeply. The first night, he even chose to meditate in place of sleep. However, between keeping up with the day-to-day magic that his cottage ran upon, maintaining the security arrays around his home, and feeding Jinyoung with pure energy, there wasn’t enough for inedia too.

On the second night, he grudgingly fell asleep with Jinyoung nestled in his arms.

And...nothing happened. Whether it was through his jerking awake every so often to check on his little charge or some kind of latent instinct that knew there was something extremely small and delicate right next to him, Nichkhun hardly even turned over in his sleep, for the first time waking up in the same general position he’d fallen asleep in, with Jinyoung still safe in the curl of his arm and slobbering into his sleeping robes.

Nichkhun prepared an extra nice offering to their  _ Laozu _ in gratitude that morning.

In time, he promised himself he’d train Jinyoung into his rocker. For now, this was better than nothing. 

Jinyoung slept, quiet as a mouse next to his hyung. Some of the rosy flush was beginning to fade from his soft skin, muting to a healthy peachy tone everywhere save for his fat little cheeks and button nose. He was squishy and tender and smelled like fresh milk left out for the cream to rise. It was hard to associate him with his eagle-eyed sharp-tongue disciple sister or her laughing cocky lover.

Nichkhun’s mouth trembled, and he fell asleep with damp eyes.


	3. The Problem With Mall Culture!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The greatest of life's challenges...people.

Little Jinyoung’s obsession of the morning was Nichkhun’s nose. The sorcerer really wasn’t sure what to do with that information except to keep an ear out for when the baby babbled a little more loudly than usual and lean down far enough for a tiny palm to boop his nose. Every time, the baby giggled like a demented goblin before settling down satisfied for the next 10 minutes for so.

Nichkhun’s face had stoically taken much abuse on the flight to town. 

When he was within sight, Nichkhun banished his cloud cover and landed lightly on the path, not even so much as jolting the baby in his arms, not that he could have. Jinyoung had been wadded up under so many warm layers that Nichkhun appeared to be carrying nothing short of a giant feathered dumpling. Even then, the sorcerer constantly fiddled with the layers checking if there wasn’t some tiny gap a tendril of nippy autumn air might sneak through.

To refer to the hamlet nestled cozily in the dip between Jinhae’s gentle hills as “small” was being rather kind. It was a rural village of some thousand or so squat little buildings, all thatched with straw, a brazenness only possible in a community that had never seen rain rougher than a lazy shower. 

One had to wonder whether they were just plum lucky or if they somehow knew in absolute confidence that the local divine beast abhorred wet weather.

As he passed the sparse huts of the village craftsmen, families that lived on the outskirts nearer to the farms they supplied than the market center, Nichkhun became distinctly aware that there were very few people on the streets for the middle of the day. He didn’t meet more than a handful of scurrying villagers on his way to the town square. 

Their first stop was the money changer, a man so wrinkled that his brows drooped right over his eyes so that they could hardly be seen. He spoke more in nods than he did in words, examining the handful of gold coins Nichkhun had excavated from somewhere beneath his growing pile of clutter, all uncursed - or at least they weren’t strictly curses... 

While Nichkun had been unexpectedly successful in his search, it was impossible to keep them all free from magic entirely; object spells rubbed off on everything after a few thousand years, but he hadn’t needed to counter-curse every individual coin. Instead, he’d culled anything particularly violent leaving nothing more menacing than your garden variety hoarding geasses, many of whom Nichkhun had already trapped for his own purposes and were therefore in no position to hassle anyone for their treasure back. The rest...well as long as they were spent quickly it should be fine. There were even a few blessings mixed in. 

Keeping an ear for the occasional polite question, Nichkhun let the old man fiddle about his weights and scales with shaky hands unharassed. He settled in the corner and turned his attention to little Jinyoung, keeping the baby amused trying to catch the sorcerer’s nose with tiny fingers. 

When the clanking stopped he looked up to find ropes upon ropes of silver and copper strung on coarse hemp cords strewn over the counter, next to a few remaining of the golden coins. Nichkhun sighed and he re-examined them. He couldn’t fault a currency dealer for not accepting geased coins. He’ll have to sell off some potions to make up the difference.

Turning his attention to the money, Nickhun frowned at the bundle in his arms. Seeing no way around it that didn’t involve magic - heaven knows he couldn’t have a demon accusation on his hands right now. Human settlements tend not to be too happy with wandering celestials - he smiled his best smile at the old money changer.

“Good grandfather, if you would be so kind as to hold the little one for a bit...” The old man didn’t answer, but seeing his arms slowly come up, Nichkhun gently deposited Jinyoung neatly into them. Quickly, he swiped up the strings of cash and deposited them into the storage he’d hidden inside the folds of his sleeves. Finally, he palmed the cursed coins and - purely for safety’s sake - deposited them in the spider silk-lined satchel at his waist along with the potions he’d planned to sell.

He hadn’t been quick enough. Behind the money counter, Jinyoung gurgled unhappily, blowing rebellious spit bubbles at his temporary carrier until Nichkhun plucked the disgusting little rat back up and attacked him with a silk handkerchief.

“ _Jinyoung-ah_ !” He hissed, “ _We do_ **_not_ **...” 

But Jinyoung had already settled down into a perfect little cherub in the crook of his elbow. With a cheerful pat on Nichkun’s nose, the little boy chirped obediently and snuggled back into his swaddling clothes leaving the sorcerer acutely aware that he was arguing with _a baby._

Nichkhun wilted like celery.

Defeated, he apologized to the money changer and swept them both out the door with the shattered pieces of his dignity. 

Readjusting Jinyoung into a more comfortable grip, the sorcerer wheeled them both towards the open-air marketplace. He took not 10 steps before what seemed like a sledgehammer slammed into his midsection. 

Nichkhun staggered, only barely avoiding a fall by reaching towards the earth let his natural energy root in the ground even as his arms scrambled not to drop the fragile bundle in his arms. 

The little gremlin, of course, had the gall to _trill_ at Nichkhun like a _reed whistle_ as if this was some kind of new game and not his hyung’s best efforts at _keeping him alive and not crushed into the dirt road like a discarded tangerine peel_. Instead, he happily pulled at the strands of hair that had escaped Nichkhun’s abalone shell hair clasps and bumped his soft little head against the sorcerer’s jaw. Nichkhun pinched his fat rosy cheek in retaliation.

“..ir...Sir!”

“Can I _help_ you?” Nichkhun snapped. A little girl in a threadbare but mostly clean hemp dress who barely came up to his sash shrank back from the irate sorcerer. “Oh no, I’m terribly sorry. What’s wrong little Miss?”

“You...you dropped your bag.” 

“Oh, of course, thank you.” Nichkhun accepted his satchel back, and slinging it over his shoulder, sparing only a few seconds to check that his potions bottles hadn’t cracked. 

Looking back at the girl, he frowned. Nichkhun’s medicines were quite high quality even if he did say so himself. Even his simple healing droughts often fetched back their own fair share of powerful alchemical ingredients and moderately useful artifacts. If the local pharmacist was worth their salt at all, his potions would fetch a good price - at least enough to hire a wet nurse for Jinyoung for the few months it would take him to brew a new batch. 

So he took a small handful of coins out of his sleeve making sure there was a good mix of silver and copper coins. The girl’s eyes grew wide and round as he offered them to her. She must not have pocket money very often.

“Buy yourself something tasty,” he said with a smile, “This brother will treat you.”

After looking between him and the coins a few times the little girl snatched them out of his hands like they were treasure and scurried off holding them close to her chest like she was afraid he would take them back. What a cute child. 

“You think so too, right Jinyoungie?” Nichkhun cooed, tugging the wet ends of his hair out of Jinyoung’s mouth. “Grow up like the nice polite little noona you just met okay?”

Now, it was time to find the pharmacist...

...except there was one problem.

“Ain’t no fancy medicine or medicine folk in these parts, young master,” said the 8th shopkeeper Nichkhun had approached that day. “Nearest city’s Changwon and that’s a 3 day journey by horse cart. But now if your little one is fussin’ up a storm, I’ve got this special herb oil, I’ve raised 5 strappin’ young boys with it and my ma raised 8 in her time. I’ll swear on my…”

“No...no thank you, madam. I don’t think it’ll...”

“You’ll need it. Nice plump little dumplin’ like that looks to be teethin’ soon.”

Nichkhun blinked down at his disciple nephew who was once again reaching for his nose. Was Jinyoung that close to having teeth? Didn’t humans drink milk and eat mashed grains for much of their infancy? Sure they didn’t need teeth for at least a few more years. Or had Nichkhun left him in the earth for too long, and now Jinyoung was in the craggly winter-potato stages of his infancy rather than the beginning of it? His mandrakes weren’t going to flower until next summer, and he only had about a bushel left of firefew bark! 

Looking back down at the vegetable stall with a discerning eye Nichkhun began to pick out what he could. It’s been a long while since he’s had to use common ingredients. Luckily, the shopkeeper was very helpful, thoroughly showing him all the produce that she had in stock. The generous woman helped him calculate everything and even offered to have her son deliver it all to his cabin later. Nickhun happily bought her out of turmeric, ginger, and rosemary.

Immediately after, he was besieged by help from all sides. Everyone seemed to have some seed of wisdom to offer about babies. Nickhun had no idea that human infants were such fussy little creatures. Soon his head was spinning with the deluge of new information. By the time Nichkhun had extricated himself from the crowd, he’d spent over half his copper coins. 

Dealing with so many people was rough on Jinyoung too. The poor thing had turned his face into Nichkhun’s lapels and was snuffling miserably. 

“Oh, hyung is sorry, little bud,” the sorcerer cooed stroking the baby’s wisps of dark hair, “They’re gone now. I promise. No more market okay?”

“Wahguuuuh!” Jinyoung whined at him, much aggrieved even through a mouth full of robes. 

“I know, I know,” Nickhun mumbled as he nuzzled the baby’s soft cheek with his own, “I’m tired too. Humans are such fiddly creatures. This fruit, that toy, your poor hyung really can’t see the difference.”

“Buuuuuu.”

“Exactly, this means we never have to do it again. That’s my smart little sprout.”

As if in agreement, Jinyoung finally turned his face up and wriggled a tiny hand out of his wraps to pat his caretaker lazily on the nose. 

Fortunately their ordeal had wrangled out the directions to local healer women the villagers referred to as _Halmonie_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be like Nichkun, when you're so privileged that even when the market wives descend they don't even make a dent LOL


End file.
